God Is Glorified When His Disciples Bear Fruit

"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." (John 15:8)

Jody brushed the clods of dirt off her hands and tapped her trowel on the edge of the garden path. That does it! she thought. I've done my part. Now it's up to this garden to hold up its end of the bargain! As she walked toward the house, Jody wondered at how she kept seeing rows and rows of weeds in her mind every time she closed her eyes. It felt like she had been weeding and planting for a thousand days! But it would be worth it, she knew – like when the squash and tomatoes were ripe and ready to eat! She could almost taste them now!

How do you think Jody would feel if she came to her garden at harvest-time, after all that work she put into it, only to see that none of her crops came in? What if none of her tomato plants decided to yield one tomato? What if her squash vines decided to bear a pumpkin or a carrot, but no squash? What if the ears of corn never grew kernels? That would be weird, for one thing! Who ever heard of a squash vine that gave a pumpkin, or of corn-ears that never grew kernels? A harvest like that would be very weird indeed.

That would be a strange harvest, yes, but worse – a harvest like that would also be so disappointing! Think of all the work Jody poured into her garden! How do you think it would feel to not get any fruit, not even after so much hard work?

Discipleship is hard work, too. The whole growing process for a Christian is a hard thing. But did you know that God is glorified when His people bear fruit? The Bible teaches about the kinds of things we should see growing in our hearts – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, kindness – all sorts of amazing characteristics. They should be a part of every believer's life, and every believer should be growing in this kind of "fruit" every day.

Do you know why God is so glorified when we bear fruit? Because ultimately, He is the One Who deserves the credit for our growth. God expects us to become more and more like His Son, but He also works in our hearts to change us so that we can! He gives us the desire to grow. He enables and strengthens and gives grace to help us. And His power is greater than any human power. Only God can bring spiritually-dead people to life and grow them into spiritual fruit-bearers.

God gets all the glory when His disciples bear spiritual fruit.

My Response:» What kind of "fruit" is my life bearing right now?» Do I desire to glorify God?» How can I glorify God?

Description of God

A Great High Priest Who Has Passed Through the HeavensHebrews 4:14 "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

Question & Answer

Can a Christian become more like Christ without the Bible?

No. John 17:17 – "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

BIG Christian Word

Trinity - (TRIN-uh-tee)

The word "trinity" is not in the Bible. "Tri" means three. The Persons of the Trinity exist as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God and has all the characteristics and qualities of God. In the book of Genesis, there is a verse which verifies that God was not alone in the world's creation. Genesis 1:26 reads, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." In the book of John, Jesus tells how important it was that He go to the Father so the "Comforter" (the Holy Spirit) could come into the world.